From the January-March 2010 Issue
Common to Man
Andrew and Vivienne Birch
Spain continues to be affected by the current economic crisis. Last year the number of unemployed people here went over the four million mark for the first time. There are now well over a million families in Spain without a single bread-winner. A lot of people have lost their homes because of not being able to keep up with their mortgage commitments. The number of shops and other businesses closing their doors has become increasingly noticeable.
Needless to say, Christians are far from being immune to these difficulties. From a theological perspective, this could be seen as something like the reverse of ‘common grace’; just as “the Lord is good to all” (Psalm 145:9a), and “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good…” (Matthew 5:45b), so too are Christians affected by problems “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And so, in the church here in Palma, we are seeing a growing number of people struggling to find work, to hold on to their jobs, pay their bills, keep out of debt, and so on. As I write, several more families from our church have been hit by unemployment, and the tourist high-season that provides work for so many people here, including not a few Christians, is now over, signalling the end of many a seasonal contract and heralding the approach of what looks likely to be an economically long and bleak winter. However, as I tried to convey as sympathetically as possible in a sermon recently, the biblical story in 2 Kings 6 and 7 of the famine in Samaria reminds us that we neither can nor should trust in men, be they political leaders, economic experts, bank managers, other respected members of the community, or even men of God (like the prophet Elisha), but rather in the God whose Word never fails, whose power is unlimited and who is able to provide even in the most unpromising circumstances.
Church
As a fellowship, we’ve been affected not only by the current crisis, but also by what seems like an above average share of illness and death. But God’s work goes on: hardly a week goes by without new people finding their way to our church; there are non-Christians at almost all our Sunday services, both morning and evening; no sooner do we baptize some and welcome others into membership than new waiting-lists begin; our seven fortnightly home-groups (six in Spanish and one in English) continue to provide fellowship, support, teaching and gospel opportunities; and we are working towards establishing a church in El Arenal.